Ber. P. 23173

Possible joins: The hand, letter size, and shape of the pen-nib match those found on EM 43470 = TAD B.6.2 (a wifehood document). Based on the fold pattern of that papyrus, this fragment may sit above that document’s large fragment. A direct join cannot be confirmed due to the poor quality of the photographs of the Cairo papyrus. Line 1. The reading is certain. This fragment is a surviving portion of a contract that states the value of an item. Unfortunately, both the item, and the quantity of its worth in silver. The surviving number may be either the count of items or the dimensions of a particular item. Of the known data, only the wifehood document Brooklyn Brooklyn Museum 47.218.150 + 47.218.97 + 47.218.155 frags. = TAD B.3.8 ll. 8–9 uses the number four before the phrase “silver value.” It reads: 1 new fringed(?) garment, [at] 6 cubits by 4 (with) a value of silver / (at) 7 shekels לבש 𐡘 מעדר חדת לאמנ 𐡘𐡘𐡘 𐡘𐡘𐡘 ב 𐡘𐡘𐡘 𐡘 דמי כספ / שקלנ 𐡘𐡘𐡘 𐡘𐡘𐡘 𐡘 One wonders if such valuable garments were handcrafted to order or produced in lots. If the latter is the case, then the present fragment may refer to the same type of garment.